Adds needs relations to GitLab CI yaml but got an error: the job was not added to the pipeline - gitlab

Question

I am trying to add needs between jobs in the Gitlab CI yaml configuration file.
stages:
- build
- test
- package
- deploy
maven-build:
stage: build
only:
- merge_requests
- master
- branches
...
test:
stage: test
needs: [ "maven-build" ]
only:
- merge_requests
- master
...
docker-build:
stage: package
needs: [ "test" ]
only:
- master
...
deploy-stage:
stage: deploy
needs: [ "docker-build" ]
only:
- master
...
deploy-prod:
stage: deploy
needs: [ "docker-build" ]
only:
- master
when: manual
...
I have used the GitLab CI online lint tools to check my syntax, it is correct.
But when I pushed the codes, it always complains:
'test' job needs 'maven-build' job
but it was not added to the pipeline
You can also test your .gitlab-ci.yml in CI Lint
The GitLab CI did not run at all.
Update: Finally I made it. I think the needs position is sensitive, move all needs under the stage, it works. My original scripts included some other configuration between them.

Answer 1

CI-jobs that depend on each other need to have the same limitations!
In your case that would mean to share the same only targets:
stages:
- build
- test
maven-build:
stage: build
only:
- merge_requests
- master
- branches
test:
stage: test
needs: [ "maven-build" ]
only:
- merge_requests
- master
- branches
that should work from my experience^^

Answer 2

Finally I made it. I think the needs position is sensitive, move all needs under the stage, it works
Actually... that might no longer be the case with GitLab 14.2 (August 2021):
Stageless pipelines
Using the needs keyword in your pipeline configuration helps to reduce cycle times by ignoring stage ordering and running jobs without waiting for others to complete.
Previously, needs could only be used between jobs on different stages.
In this release, we’ve removed this limitation so you can define a needs relationship between any job you want.
As a result, you can now create a complete CI/CD pipeline without using stages by including needs in every job to implicitly configure the execution order.
This lets you define a less verbose pipeline that takes less time to create and can run even faster.
See Documentation and Issue.

Answer 3

The rule in both jobs should be that same or otherwise GitLab cannot create job dependency between the jobs when the trigger rule is different.

Answer 4

I don't know why, but if the jobs are in different stages (as in my case), you have to define the jobs that will be done later with "." at the start.
Another interesting thing is GitLab's own CI/CD Lint online text editor does not complain there is an error. So you have to start the pipeline to see the error.
Below, notice the "." in ".success_notification" and ".failure_notification"
stages:
- prepare
- build_and_test
- deploy
- notification
#SOME CODE
build-StandaloneWindows64:
<<: *build
image: $IMAGE:$UNITY_VERSION-windows-mono-$IMAGE_VERSION
variables:
BUILD_TARGET: StandaloneWindows64
.success_notification:
needs:
- job: "build-StandaloneWindows64"
artifacts: true
stage: notification
script:
- wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DiscordHooks/gitlab-ci-discord-webhook/master/send.sh
- chmod +x send.sh
- ./send.sh success $WEBHOOK_URL
when: on_success
.failure_notification:
needs:
- job: "build-StandaloneWindows64"
artifacts: true
stage: notification
script:
- wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DiscordHooks/gitlab-ci-discord-webhook/master/send.sh
- chmod +x send.sh
- ./send.sh failure $WEBHOOK_URL
when: on_failure
#SOME CODE